Thursday, 15 September 2011

The comments (nearly all from US readers) are instructive. Here's some of the more popular ones, those "upvoted".

And the world draws closer to the end of times.

Why is it the world bends over backwards for these broken people? Let them adjust to the mainstream. A tiny percentage of confused nutters shouldn't get to modify any aspects of society.

Male or female, that's it! Don't confuse yourself with another!

Oh this is just ridiculous!!!!!! What really surprises me though is that America with all it's Gay lovers didn't do this first.

God that just makes me sick. A very small amount of people in the world are actually born with this problem then there's way more people who just THINK they're not the right gender. Well guess what, if you were born a girl or a guy THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE stop trying to change yourself. Leave the doctors open to the people who actually need the help.

I do love how people try to explain trannies away using "psychology" as a crutch when genetic science already has a way to determine your gender. Sewing on or inverting an appendage makes you another gender as much as stitching in whiskers and sewing on a tail makes you feline. Or if you'd prefer I use a psychological backdrop... Believing you are another gender does not make you that gender anymore than believing you are Napoleon makes you a late 18th century French military strategist emperor. If psychologists played into any other delusion as much as they did with "gender identity" they'd rightfully lose their license to practice.

"Intersex people, who are biologically not entirely male or female, will be able to list their gender on passports as "X."" DNA can't be changed. It also identifies the sex of the individual.

You geneticly inferior filth.

Male, Female, Sodomist, this covers everybody

They should only have three options on any passport in the world: "Male" for human beings born male and currently male, "Female" for human beings born female and currently female, and "Freak" as a catch-all for pretty much everyone else who does not fall into the first two categories. This approach has the value of being the most accurate representation possible.

Well there goes Australia!! Stupid fu---ing libs another gov't. of disgusting minds!!

Every cell in you body has DNA which dictates whether you are male or female. External appearance or mood or DENIAL does not. You can complain about how you are a "Woman in a man's body", and even mutilate yourself with surgery and get implants and pump yourself up with hormones, for what? To look like some sad caricature abomination of a woman. Don't expect people to respect you as something that you can never be. It is like a white person who DEMANDS to be recognized as black, even to the point that they get nose surgery and wear black face all day. Should they be recognized as being a respectable black person, or some joke of a freak in denial?

God says homosexuals are sinning and homosexuals say they are not ....think I'll side with God and this one. That would be the God of Love , not their god of lust

toleranceis not a virtue, it is a cowardly vice , no one has to tolerate this homosexual maggot infested garbage

Why does the world continue to conform to the freaks and not the other way around

Now they can travel to Gaysrael without any problem

Come Jesus Come quickly, Soddom and Gomorrah all over again. And what followed....read about it in the Holy Bible.

The government down under is F()KING nuts. Why not an A for asexual people that have sex with them selfs and reproduce that way too.OH OH OH and and why not an N for nosesexual people that stick their fingers up there noses for sex and reproduction. LOL Geee

The world is coming to an end that is what's happening. For people to say things like this does not bother them or will not affect them is living in great deceit. You will see... inthe end how it will affect you. The world system is crumbling and Jesus is waiting for that trumpet to sound before he ride up in here and take us believers home and leave all the the people who chose to do their own agenda and own will in life. Then you will see how it will affect you!!! I thank God I will not be here to see it. I will always be repentant and live according to God's way not man sinful ways. By the way we (belivers) do have a right to judge according to God's Word not our own.

They've gone too far. If you want to be a freak, don't broadcast it to the rest of the world and expect us to accept it. These PC idiots are crying for "trans-species" rights now. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't feel like you are the gender or species you were born as --you're delusional and suffering from a mental disorder.

We wouldnt want to anger the freaks. They might genetically alter a hissy fit and call it a natural state of being!

there shouldnt be any thing on the passport other than ,,, m,,, or ,,, f,,,, all homosexuals, trannys, cross dressers, pedophiles, homosexual pedophiles, beast lovers, dead body part lovers, and sexual freaks should be branded on their foreheads with a big x

Transgender freaks should be shunned by society.

gays are defects in biology evil to god there is no other gender period aussies tend to be loons

JEWS and ZIONISM will destroy all cultures. We need the great father once again to take care of those SOBs

homosexual are the ignorant hating bigots they are complaing about, they cant stand themselves, live in shame and are the morally disgusting freaks that want to destroy your children by infecting them with perverted propaganda , protect your children at all cost

A bunch of jewish professors who are bent on destroying western culture convinced a bunch of high school drop outs that "it's the right thing to do".

I bet JEWS pushed the issue, since their goal is to destroy western civilization. Read the zionist manifesto.

tolerance, political correctness and sensitivity are not virtues they are cowardly vices,,, stand up for who you are and what you believe, being tolerant does not mean respecting rights, they are not the same thing, condemning people who accept and exercise homosexual behavior is an act of justice and morally mandatory ,,, flush the gay bowel movement down the toilet were it belongs

In the animal kingdom and the universe, there are only 2 sexes. Those liberal left wing influenced by the Jews just invented a third sex which does not exist.

Sorry. Their are only two genders, male and female. Period. No debate. Deal with it.

Stop trying to rationalize your perversion of nature by pretending it is 'normal'. You are freaks. The only ones that don't think so are other freaks.

Sorry. Their are only two genders, male and female. Period. No debate. Deal with it.

This is what happens when Jewish Harvard school influence the academics of another country. The world should boycott any liberal freakish jewish made unnatural notions of sexes

This is ridiculous!. Western societies are replacing common sense with politcal correctness. You're just man (XY) or woman (XX). Period.

I have to remind myself that this is the country that put a human on the moon.

Meanwhile, what the policy actually means... with grateful thanks to Kathy Noble for passing this on.

If you quote this information on your website, could you please attribute it to a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

"This new policy makes it easier for members of the sex and gender diverse community to obtain a passport in their preferred gender. Sex reassignment surgery is no longer a prerequisite to the issue of a passport in a new gender.

The passport will show the person as either female (f) male (m) or intersex, indeterminate, unspecified (x) to reflect their preferred gender identity.

Applicants will have to provide a statement from a medical practitioner registered with the Medical Board of Australia, or equivalent overseas authority, certifying that they have undergone, or are receiving, appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition; that they are intersex and live in a particular gender; or are of indeterminate sex.

The policy also applies to intersex applicants who do not accept the sex assigned to them at birth and who live in a different gender, as well as those who wish to have ‘x’ appear in their passport to identify their sex as indeterminate.

Applicants must meet all other normal passport requirements, such as providing proof of identity documents to support their identity in the wider community.

The policy removes unnecessary obstacles to recording a person’s preferred gender in their passport. It has been developed in close consultation with the sex and gender diverse community.

This initiative is in line with the Australian Government’s commitment to remove discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or sexual identity. "

This information will soon be available on the passports website. They are just in the process of updating the information.

I need such a refreshing dose of sanity after writing the first part of this post. The Hatred is just so unremitting, and from so very many people, a distinct majority of the commenters. And of course, the perpetual canary in the coalmine, Anti-Semitism is there.

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

The Capability Maturity Model - CMM - is a powerful tool in process improvement, in Software and in organisations generally. Although replaced by its successor, CMMI, it's still valuable in most cases "out of the box".

There are five levels defined along the continuum of the CMM and, according to the SEI: "Predictability, effectiveness, and control of an organization's software processes are believed to improve as the organization moves up these five levels. While not rigorous, the empirical evidence to date supports this belief."

Initial (chaotic, ad hoc, individual heroics) - the starting point for use of a new or undocumented repeat process.

Repeatable - the process is at least documented sufficiently such that repeating the same steps may be attempted.

Defined - the process is defined/confirmed as a standard business process, and decomposed to levels 0, 1 and 2 (the latter being Work Instructions).

Managed - the process is quantitatively managed in accordance with agreed-upon metrics.

Monday, 12 September 2011

Gordon R Dickson's 1965 story "Computers Don't Argue". Please go and read it to find out how corrupted data entry can cause things to go horribly wrong...Originally published when I was 7, it was reprinted in "creative computing" when I was an undergrad like my students, and still relevant today.

The technology has moved on; we don't use punched cards - we use relational database management systems (RDBMS). But it's now even easier to

INSERT INTO CourtJudgement VALUES amount, statute, address

instead of

INSERT INTO CourtJudgement VALUES statute, amount, address

I'm teaching a course on Databases this semester - and this story is one of the teaching materials I use, in the Ethics section. I don't want any of my students to ever bend, spindle or mutilate someone because of such errors.

Sunday, 11 September 2011

From Dr Michael Brown, on the Einsatzgruppen-style execution of a gender nonconforming child:

A Fair Question for Gay Activists:

Did gay activism play a role in the murder of Lawrence King?

Did "homophobia" kill 15-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King on February 12, 2008, as gay activists allege -- or did gay activism contribute to his death?

Of course, there is only one real killer, Brandon McInerney, just 14 years old at the time of shooting. He confessed to killing Larry in cold blood in full view of his classmates. But there are others who are complicit in Larry's terribly tragic death, and rather than point the finger at a "homophobic" society, they should point it at themselves. I'm speaking of course of gay activists, who have made Larry into a martyr for the cause of gay activism when, in reality, he was more a victim of gay activism.

Here's a slight re-write, exchanging a few semantic tokens, as might be written by another conservative religious group:

A Fair Question for Americans.

Did US Government policy play a role in 9/11.

Did "Islamism" kill 3000 people on September 11th 2001, as Americans allege -- or did US policy contribute to these deaths?

Of course, there is only one real killer, Osama Bin Laden, and his cohort. He confessed to planning the cold blooded attack in full view of the world, and on video. But there are others who are complicit in these terribly tragic deaths, and rather than point the finger at "Islamists", they should point it at themselves. I'm speaking of course of Americans, who have made the 9/11 victims into martyrs for the cause of American policies when, in reality, they were more victims of American policy.

Dr B and I had a spirited discussion on this. His opinion of my re-write:

As for your article, I find no valid comparison between what I wrote and what you wrote.

Your second question: You forget that you're dealing with kids! If black activists told us day and night that the neighborhoods were dangerous for black kids and then encouraged those kids to flaunt their blackness by wearing hoods and taunting white kids, and then a white kid killed one of them, the white kid would be 100% guilty, but the black activists would have blood on their hands.

Zoe Ellen Brain :

There we have disagreement. The civilised response to KKK atrocities, lynchings and murders is *not* killings in return, it *is* taunting, and refusing to be cowed into submission.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I do see your point, I just wonder how you reconcile it with your blatant flaunting of your Calvinism Arminianism**, and encouraging others to do the same.

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) was founded way back in 1995, only it wasn’t called the ACL then, it was known as the Australian Christian Coalition (ACC). The name was derived from its American cousin, the scandal-ridden Christian Coalition of America, established by the rabid, right-wing televangelist, Pat Robertson.

Rabid? Really?Controversies surrounding Robertson include his earlier work as a faith healer, his claim that some Protestant denominations harbor the spirit of the Antichrist, and his claims of having the power to deflect hurricanes through prayer; he has also denounced Hinduism as "demonic" and Islam as "Satanic." Robertson has issued multiple condemnations of feminism, homosexuality, abortion and liberal college professors. Robertson also had financial ties to former presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, both internationally denounced for their human rights violations. Robertson was criticized worldwide for his call for Hugo Chavez’s assassination and for his remarks concerning Ariel Sharon's health as an act of God.

The week of September 11, 2001, Robertson discussed the terror attacks with Jerry Falwell, who said that "the ACLU has to take a lot of blame for this" in addition to "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians [who have] helped [the terror attacks of September 11th] happen." Robertson replied, "I totally concur."

OK, Rabid. Moving on...

At first, it seems, there was little attempt to hide the ACC’s dominionist agenda. In fact, one of the organisation’s early journals was called Mandate – an allusion to the belief “that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns”. That’s right, folks, the long-term goal for these people looks a lot like TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION.

The aims of the ACC could not have been clearer: “to reclaim our society and our government for God and to have the Christian voice heard”. Did you hear that, non-religious and secular Australians? You’ve got their country and they want it back.

Not surprisingly, the ACC soon found its dominionist theology and fundamentalist lunacy simply wasn’t going to fly in the Australian political landscape. If it wanted to appeal to ‘middle Australia’ it needed a little cosmetic surgery.

Of course, this didn’t mean the ACC planned to abandon its Christian nationalist agenda and ditsy dogma. God forbid! No! It simply meant that a shiny new veneer was added to make it seem … well … somewhat less batshit crazy.

The veneer slipped a bit recently, with some of the American invitees to a conference on same-sex marriage not having been sufficiently well briefed.

More on Seven Mountains Dominionism etc over at Christian Psychologist Warren Throckmorton's place. Some of them even scare the Theocrats...

Friday, 2 September 2011

The judge in the Brandon McInerney murder trial has declared a mistrial after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.

The vote was 7 to 5 in favor of finding Brandon McInerney guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
...
Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox told jurors that King was "executed" for who he was, and that the crime was therefore first-degree murder.

"No amount of revisionist history and attempts to paint Larry King as some kind of predator can ever change the fact of what occurred in this case," Fox said. "That is: Larry King was executed for who he was."

Prosecutors have described the shooting as a premeditated murder carried out by a classmate who was a proponent of "racist skinhead philosophy."

According to prosecutors, McInerney sat behind King in the computer lab class on Feb. 12, 2008, didn't do anything for 20 minutes, and then, without saying a word, fired one shot into the back of King's head.

As the teen collapsed to the floor, McInerney stood up, looked around at his astonished classmates and delivered a "second, coup de grâce" shot into King's head, prosecutors allege.

The defense has argued that King taunted and flirted with McInerney, ultimately sparking the fatal confrontation.

Student witnesses have said King had expressed a romantic interest in McInerney, who was humiliated by the attention.

But, when asked by McInerney's lawyer Scott Wipert if he had seen King "chasing boys around," A student identified as 17-year-old Cristian G. answered no.

One of King's friends told the court that King did not aggressively flirt with other boys at the school.
...
Prosecutors say McInerney carefully planned and carried out murder of his eighth-grade classmate.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

During opening statements, the defense argued that McInerney was a troubled boy from a violent home and killed King in the "heat-of-the-moment."

Fox countered that McInerney had threatened to shoot King, who was openly gay, the day before the incident after the two were involved in an argument in science class.

McInerney had just turned 14 when he allegedly shot King with a .22-caliber handgun.

A transgender variation of the gay panic defense was also used in 2004–2005 by the three defendants in the Gwen Araujo homicide case, who claimed that they were enraged by the discovery that Araujo, a transgender teenager with whom they had engaged in sex, had male genitalia. The first trial resulted in a jury deadlock; in the second, defendants Mike Magidson and Jose Merél were convicted of second-degree murder, while the jury again deadlocked in the case of Jason Cazares. Cazares later entered a plea of no contest to charges of voluntary manslaughter.

But it seems not. The Judge can advise the Jury to disregard it, but they don't have to obey.

All a defence lawyer has to do is assert that the victim "came on" to the suspect - no witnesses or other evidence is necessary - and deadlock, or even acquittal - is likely, regardless of the other facts.

A transgender woman yesterday told how she was attacked while in a motorised wheelchair and hit about 70 times with a garden spade.

“I thought I was going to die,” Donna Macklan said in Albury Local Court when describing the attack on her in January.

She said she was knocked from her wheelchair as she tried to leave a house in North Albury, after a confrontation, the Border Mail reports.

The blows were mainly to her lower back. She also suffered a broken elbow.

Christie Keighran yesterday pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, malicious damage, offensive behaviour and resisting arrest.
...
The court was told Ms Macklan had lived as a woman for four years.

She became a partial paraplegic in a car crash several years ago with fractures to her right side and back injuries.

She can walk only a few steps.

There was an argument when she went to a Kentucky Avenue house about 3.25pm on January 15.

Keighran, 22, of Turner Street, Lavington, called her a (her)maphrodite and fetched a spade from the yard.

Ms Macklan tried to leave, but Keighran began hitting her motorised chair, causing damage to either side, the computer box and tyres.

“She was trying to hit me, but luckily she was hitting the wheelchair,” Ms Macklan said.

She was knocked from the wheelchair and hit several times to the head and face.

So a paraplegic gets attacked by a 22 year old woman with a shovel she specifically goes and gets to complete the attack with. Fortunately, there was no serious attempt to murder the victim. I guess we have to be thankful for small mercies.

Sometimes it's difficult not to give in to paranoia. Yes, there's risks, these should not be underestimated, even in a relatively sane place such as Canberra, Australia. But we can't go around living our lives dominated by fears, even well-grounded ones. After all, we have police to protect us.

The off-duty Metropolitan Police Department officer, Kenneth Furr, who allegedly shot two transgender women seated in a car early Friday, Aug. 26, at First and Pierce Streets NW, appeared for a preliminary hearing at D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday, Aug. 30, where his lawyer withdrew from the case and was replaced by another. Furr's new attorney, Harold Martin, asked for a postponement of the preliminary hearing, which was granted and moved to Friday, Sept. 2. Furr is being held without bond.

According to charging documents made public Aug. 27 at Furr's arraignment, Furr approached one of the transgender women at a CVS at 400 Massachusetts Ave. NW early Friday morning. That led to a second exchange with both women and a male outside the store, where Furr allegedly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the group, who fled into the CVS. Afterward, the three who encountered Furr joined two others and trailed Furr, both parties in vehicles, in hopes of gleaning enough information to report him to authorities.

The charging document reports that Furr stopped his car near First and Pierce Streets NW, exited and pointed a handgun at the vehicle trailing him. The driver ducked to avoid getting shot, and the two vehicles collided. Furr then allegedly climbed onto the hood of the vehicle and continued shooting. At least one of the women who was shot said she heard Furr say, ''Ima kill all of you.''

One male victim was shot and taken to George Washington University Hospital in serious condition, while the two transgender women who were shot were taken to Howard University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Hmmm... maybe not.

My son told me in the car yesterday that he tells others at school that I'm his aunt, rather than his father. To avoid "issues".

He was worried that I'd be upset. Naturally, I approved of his action, anything to keep my boy out of danger, hurt feelings be darned. I'm proud of him, that he had the sense to do this, even at age 10. That he had the personal courage and responsibility not to ask me, but to tell me, as he judged (rightly) that he knew his own situation best. And not least, that he thought of my feelings too, and wanted to make sure that I knew, and hoped I understood.

I told him that as long as he knew I was his Daddy, and always would be, the rest of the world didn't need to know. That I approved of his action, and was proud of him.

He's a far better and more mature man at 10 than the killer of Larry King was at 14, or ever will be. I'm sorry that he has to do this, to be tested this way, but that is the world he and I live in.

About Me

Actually, I am a Rocket Scientist.
Also hormonally odd (my blood has 46xy chromosomes anyway) and for most of my life, I looked male, and lived as one, trying to be the best Man a Gal could be. Anyway, in May 2005 that started changing naturally for reasons still unclear, and I'm now Zoe, not Alan : happier and more relaxed not to have to pretend any more.
UPDATE - reason now identified as the 3BHSD form of CAH.

Reviews

This blog, written by a rocket scientist, is a fascinating collection of information, both personal and scientific, regarding intersex, transsexualism and related psychosocial and psychosexual issues....It is erudite and heartfelt. Just read the posts about the passport issue. You won't know whether to laugh, weep or crawl into a ball and rock gently in a corner - an amazing person.- David---The reason I so appreciate bright, perceptive people - as opposed to ideologues whose intelligence does little to illuminate - is that they manage to both instruct and learn with a certain grace. Among such rarities in the transblogosphere is Zoe, whose direct speech and clear humanity always make her worth reading, even if one doesn’t always agree with her every conclusion.- Val---The following is a request for permission to archive your A.E.Brain blog site which we have wanted to do for several years...The Library has traditionally collected items in print, but it is also committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting cultural value....Since (1996) we have been identifying online publications and archiving those that we consider have national significance....We would like to include A.E.Brain blog site in the PANDORA Archive...-Australian National Library